Americans in France

Misunderstandings arise when a bumptious but well-meaning American, Captain Smith, tries to bring Yankee innovation to a tradition-bound French family in a decaying ancestral home in Burgundy. France had welcomed the American soldiers and nurses who arrived in 1917 to help the war-ravaged nation beat back the invader. But in peacetime the immediate issue is how Americans have driven up the price of eggs. The Franco-American culture clash intensifies with Henri’s announcement that he wants to marry an American nurse he met when they together tended the wounded near the front. Nurse Nellie shows up, quite oblivious of the expected formalities. Henri’s older sister Henriette has her own ideas about what her brother’s future should be, and this eventually culminates in a cat-fight between the two women. Brieux took pains to allow sympathy for each woman, even as each epitomizes her own culture: the liberated New Woman vs. the presumed spinster. The comedy of misunderstandings plays out in hilarious scenes like that of a paper-shuffling notary and in Captain Smith’s lovably exuberant social clumsiness. While Brieux here favors warm laughter over his usual social justice issues, contemporary resonances lurk in his environmental and economic subtext. French and Americans alike are changed by their close encounters.

"Let's congratulate M. Brieux for giving us something that can satisfy both Americans and French at the same time … Sudden contact between two peoples will inevitably spark dramatic crises … M. Brieux's play has earned its success." —Xavier de Courville, La Revue critique des idées et des livres

"The simple truths that M. Brieux teaches us in LES AMÉRICAINS CHEZ NOUS are truths we should all embrace." —Jacques Villerest, Correspondance d'Orient

"M. Brieux adds another success to his roster … with clear and witty dialogue … it will interest and entertain." —Maximin Roll, Les Potins de Paris

"LES AMÉRICAINS CHEZ NOUS … a work rich in observations, ideas, and dramatic exchanges." —Léo Claretie, La Rampe

"The play is full of these bits that are both charming and touching … His artifice enchants with its elements of loyalty, frankness, serious and intelligent honesty." —Henri Bidou, Journal des débats politiques et littéraires